


The Days Collide

by rosebud1000



Series: Miraculous Drabbles and One-shots [14]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Angst, Episode: s03 Chat Blanc, F/M, Time Travel, with a hopeful ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25579333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosebud1000/pseuds/rosebud1000
Summary: In every world with miraculous, in every world with Hawkmoth, there is one constant: Adrien Agreste gets akumatized. And as much as Alix wishes otherwise, this is unchangeable.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Alix Kubdel, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Miraculous Drabbles and One-shots [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1659745
Comments: 6
Kudos: 68





	The Days Collide

**Author's Note:**

> something a little different from my normal... enjoy?

* * *

_“Fly away, my akuma, and evilize this hurting heart.”_

_“Tikki, spots on!”_

_“Cataclysm!”_

_“L-Lucky Ch--”_

_“Cataclysm!”_

_“Nooroo, dark wings fall.”_

_“Adrien! Adrien, look at me, please.”_

* * *

**September 14, 2017  
** **Paris, France**

“I know who Hawkmoth is.”

Marinette’s breath catches. Something is off, with his stance, his expression. _I know who Hawkmoth is._ But it’s not a battle cry, it’s not a victory march. It’s a lament, cold against his lips and freezing the air.

“My father,” he chokes out, and Ladybug moves to hug him, but she is shrugged off.

He falls to the ground, his palms flat on the pavement. “How could he? _How could he?”_

“ _Minou_ …” She helps him back up, holding his weight as he threatens to collapse again. “ _Minou,_ I need you to tell me-- tell me your name. Mine is Marinette, I live in a bakery and I go to Francois Dupont, I need to know your name, _minou_.”

“My n-name is, A-Adri--”

He is cut off by the butterfly landing on his bell, Ladybug dropping him in surprise.

“Yes, Hawkmoth.”

* * *

**December 23, 3140  
** **The United Democracy of Asia**

Alix has barely had a moment to catch her breath--or several centuries, depending on your view of things. All she wants is to visit one of those restaurants that had been springing up globally. Time travel is hard, let her have the abomination that is AI developed pizza gyoza.

Fluff is bouncing around, happy for once to have found a future with carrots that aren’t unnaturally orange. But they have to leave all too soon, rushing across time to save… the world, the timeline, _what_ they were saving was never very apparent.

“I’m sorry,” Fluff supplies, knowing how much Alix hates these missions.

“It’s fine,” she says. “Gabriel Agreste is--was--a jerk.”

“A maaajor one,” the kwami says, flying in circles around her chosen’s head. “Lucky Adrien didn’t get the gene.”

“Lucky us.”

The truth is, Alix loves Adrien. He’s her little brother, in a way. It’s inexplicable. She’s fought by Ladybug’s side more often, she’s had longer conversations with her guardian. But Adrien is Adrien. And she never wants to see him hurt.

She calls her transformation, then Burrow, and launches herself into September 14, Paris.

* * *

**January 5, 2017  
** **Paris, France**

Marinette sits awake at two in the morning. Sleep is hard to come by these days. It carries on like the tide, always managing to catch her toes but never pull her in. Her kwami looks on worriedly, though she knows Ladybug won’t talk.

Yesterday made three. The first time was hard, seeing herself and the world destroyed. The second time was numbing, everything perfect but people-less. Yesterday was awful, seeing him take the other-her’s earrings, Tikki vanishing with the same cataclysm.

She wants to scream. She wants to ask, _why me?_ She wants to throw a fit and refuse the next time Bunnix comes, but she knows she won’t. _The nightmares are worth it. Anything for Paris._

* * *

_Little kitty all alone…_

* * *

**???  
** **The Burrow**

Over and over again. She watches it play out. Adrien and Marinette date. Boom, akumatized. They date in secret. The tabloids explode. Boom, akumatized. They never fall in love, Lila takes things far. Boom, akumatized. Adrien gives up his miraculous. Two seconds later? Boom, akumatized.

There is no end to this, no end to their pain. Choose the path of least resistance, the least hurt for the least number, there is no avoiding this.

And it’s not fair to Marinette, it’s not at all. Everytime, being pulled to the future to fight her partner. She’s wary, now, of him. Alix can sense it, a slow upheaval in time as Ladybug’s trust in her partner diminishes.

It’s her mistake to fix. Choose a timeline. Destroy the others. Choose a Chat Blanc, the one that leaves the least damage behind. Choose a cataclysm, choose a miraculous.

_JUST CHOOSE ALREADY!_

* * *

**March 29, 2020  
** **Paris, France**

“Cataclysm.”

The coffin turns to ash, butterflies scatter. He kneels in front of her, listening to the near-silence. His own sobs. The flapping of wings. His miraculous, _beep beep_.

“Adrien?” A spotted hand pushes hair out of his eyes, her voice soft. “Adrien, it’s going to be alright. Carapace has them, we’ll be alright. Do you want to come with me?”

“No, I want to--” he breaks into another sob, her hand falling from his face.

“Okay, okay.” She stands, staring at the scene for a moment. “She’s beautiful.”

A beeping, not the ring on Adrien’s hand, sounds through the house, and the telltale whoosh and flash of green.

“Nino!”

“Alya, I’m-- catch him--”

“Nooroo, dark wings rise.”

* * *

**February 12, 2017  
** **Paris, France**

Marinette looks at Bunnix, resigned. She sets down her sewing. “When to now?”

“I’m sorry.”

She sighs, calls her transformation. It’s routine now. Jump on in, defeat Chat Blanc. What other choice does she have?

* * *

Not many things are constant in time. There are worlds with two moons, worlds with one continent, worlds full of dodo birds and flowering ferns. In every world with miraculous, in every world with Hawkmoth, there is one constant: Adrien Agreste gets akumatized.

This is not something easily explainable, this is not something pleasant or good. But this is how it is, and it is unchangeable.

* * *

**Summer, 1310  
** **Unmapped island**

Alix falls onto her bed, sweat dripping down her arms. What do these people have against summoning demons in the winter? Why must it always be so warm? (Of course, winter and summer don’t mean much this close to the equator).

The sense of dread that always accompanied Chat Blanc is settling in her chest, dripping into the rest of her.

For once, could she not do this? Hurt Marinette, see Adrien suffer, any of it?

“You have a while,” Fluff says, by means of comfort.

“I know, I… Fluff, clockwise!”

* * *

**June 7, 2018  
** **Paris, France**

It’s too much. It’s been too much for years (centuries, seconds). Alix cannot contain the pain of the universe, nor can she stop it. She is tired and haunted by an akuma, and everything hurts.

Her arms ache, her legs are numb, the dread in her chest has built to a bottle rocket ready to explode.

“Are you okay?”

“Adrien!” She pulls him into a hug, his suit, _black, black, black,_ against her chest, his arms tentatively returning the embrace.

“Is every alright?”

Alix backs away, squaring her hands on his shoulders. She takes a deep breath. _Make the right choice, the least pain for the least number._ “Would you give up your miraculous, for a chance at happiness?

* * *

**April 12, 2019  
** **Paris, France**

“Adrien. I love you. _Mon minou,_ please.”

“No, you don’t. You broke my heart.”

“Not again, please!”

Alix steps into the night, the light from her burrow snapping shut like a camera flash. Even the stars don’t shine tonight, as if they know the world is ending.

Ladybug is lit only by the glow of destruction in his hand, tears shining on her cheeks.

Alix takes her steps slowly, remember what Adrien said. _For happiness? I’d do anything._ She grabs Chat Blanc, using her umbrella to keep him from touching her. Another call of “Burrow!” and she’s on her way, leaving behind a stunned Marinette.

* * *

**???, BCE  
** **Temple of the Miraculous, East-West Tibetan Mountains**

Bunnix ignores the protests from her unwilling passenger, stepping out into the cold air. Sunlight bounces from the snow, hitting near-invisible rooftops made visible only by her angle.

The symbol of the miraculous screams out at her: a warning, a promise, a sign of hope. She drops her umbrella, readying her throw.

“Goodbye, Fluff.”

And Chat Blanc, his suit matching the brilliance of the snow, his hand still glowing, is sent flying across the ravine, landing in the middle of the roofs. The resulting destruction is immediate, the sound of breaking magic piercing.

Alix falls to her knees, desperately grabbing at her watch and choking out a detransformation. Magic bursts forth, swirling in the snow as it balances and rights itself--creation and destruction and change, and all the others, free in the world.

A swirl of blue wind sweeps her up, lifting her above the mountains, asking for carrots and whether today is tomorrow. She closes her eyes to the wind, tears pricking her face.

She keeps them closed, even as the air turns warm, the smell of sugar and burning wax strong.

“...happy birthday to you!”

“Blow them out!”

“What’d you wish for?”

“Can we eat the cake yet, Maman?”

“It’s been two seconds, Emma. You can wait.”

Alix opens her eyes to the thirty-four flames, and wishes she’ll never forget the miraculous.

* * *

**September 3, 2016  
** **Paris, France**

“Hey.” Adrien opens his umbrella, stepping out of the eaves. “I just want you to know, I was only trying to get the gum off, I swear. I’ve never been to school before. I’ve never had friends.” 

Marinette allows herself an almost-smile. He sounds sweet and genuine, and he’s honestly a bit of a dork… 

“It’s all sort of new to me,” he continues. “My mom… we finally managed to convince my dad this year.”

For a moment, Marinette thinks he’s about to leave, but he’s noticed her predicament with the rain: he holds the umbrella out to her. Their hands brush as she takes it, electric on her skin.

And then the umbrella snaps shut, and he laughs. Not at her, at the umbrella, maybe. Or anything else, but she wouldn’t care anyway because his laughter is perfect and whole, and she can’t help but join.

She reopens it, water flinging off the edge and onto her shirt. Adrien smiles, a blush settling on his cheeks.

“See you tomorrow,” he says, stepping away into the rain.

Marinette is frozen, her cheeks certainly pinker than his. “T-tomorrow you see, I mean, see you tomorrow.”


End file.
